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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1959)
H, Chnldireini Afffecftedl -by leirgoiiioMD3 14 MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Oregon, Sunday, March 1, 1959 J J Fr,os?scT P ElK'Tmaji. 3 ..... i.-.S L Shady Co?Lm . I .in. " i : ' r ZJ (7 " M jTl, (4 I : Ci) '"ir r 4efpis I ? H : r"r: T I : I TALSHT 3 1 iSHLAKB 1 : : TlNEHVRST 0 : TENTATIVE CHANGES - Preliminary Tentative changes in Jackson county school district boundaries under the reorganization plan are shown on the map above. Dotted lines show existing boundaries that would be eliminated after consolidation with an adjacent district. Two sets of hearings in the communities concerned plus a hearing at the state level will be held prior to actual establishment of district changes, according to Alf B. Mekvold, executive secretary of the reorganization committee. A tentative decision on the Applegate district cannot be made until after the outcome of an effort to change the county unit law. Also "hang ing fire" will be the proposal for the Ash land district to absorb the south, non-contiguous, section of the Phoenix district, Mek vold said. 'Positive' Loyalty Oath Asked For Civil Service Applicants Salem -(CPS- The matter of loyalty oaths for government 1 workers was before the Ore gon Legislature yesterday. Rep. Vernon Cook (D-Trout--dale) and Keith Skelton (D Eugene) introduced a bill to privide positive rather than negative oaths for state civil service applicants. Today civil service appli cants are required to sign a statement that they are not members of anyf organization seeking to overthrow the gov ernment of the United States by force or violence. In contrast, etected and ap pointed officers of the state are only required to state pos itively that they will uphold Phoenix Student Wins FFA Contest Leon Small, a Phoenix High school junior, placed first in the state semi-final Future Farmers of America speech contest at Crater High school in Central Point Thurs day. Small will enter the state contest at the FFA state con vention in Corvallis this spring. The winner of the state contest will enter the regional contest and later the national contest at Kansas City. Don Denning, Crater FFA chapter, was second with his speech on the problem of de creasing FFA membership. Brian Templeton, Junction City, placed third and Loren Calkins, Silo High school was fourth. Speaking on farm safety, Small said that more than S150 million goes up in smoke every year in farm fires. One-fifth of a million dollars go for carelessness with farm tractors and as a result of general farm mis haps. Small said. He pointed out the farm is one of the most dangerous places for small children. Tractors are not the only cause of accidents on the farm Small said. Others may be unrepaired ladders, inade ouate hay mors, slippery floors and poor l hting.- Many measures , ny be tak en to prevent farm accidents, he said. the constitutions and laws of the state and nation. Cook said civil service ap plicants should not be requir ed to take an oath different from that one required of elec tive and appointive officials. 'Gralitous Insult' Both sponsors quoted edi torial comment from Oregon papers to the effect that the negative oath stating that they were not members of any subversive organization was a "gratuitous insult" to civil service applicants and a "hangover from the spirit of the McCarthy era." The bill was expected to bring on some fireworks when it gets to the hearing stage. Other business saw the House .meet in' a rare after noon session to pass a num ber of bills which did not get acted on because of a long debate over a bill to tax fixed load vehicles. That bill will be voted on next Tuesday. Three Tabled The .House Tax committee tabled three bills that Rep. Clarence Barton D-Coquille) said would "whittle away" the income tax base. One, presented by Rep. Joe Rogers (R-Indepe ndence) would have allowed a father to claim his son as a depend net and still have the boy work for him and earn up to $599 tax free. Another would allow teach ers to take education costs off their tax returns if they were required by a school dis trict to take certain courses. Exemption Asked The third bill would have given exemptions to certain retired people who have earn ed retirement in other states but retired in Oregon. Other legislative highlights: Community College: Com munity college bills will be the subject of a joint hearing of the Senate and House Ed ucation committees here Tues day at 8 p.m. There will be no public testimony at this hearing, but education ex perts will testify. Unemployment Compensa tion: ; The Senate passed a bill placing the employer of one or more employes under state unemployment compensation coverage, The bill then went to the House. Officers Installed By Salesman's Club Bill Sweet was installed president of the Southern Oregon Salesman's club at a recent dinner meeting at the Tally Ho restaurant, Talent. Other officers installed in clude Jim Whalin, vice presi dent; Chuck Shepard, secre tary; Robin Binns. treasurer; Maynaud Paup, sergeant at arms; and Don Pryor, pro gram chairman. ' Committees named include grievance, Dick McElhose, chairman, and Bob Gustafson and Larry Sullivan; publicity, Gene Barlow, chairman, Paul Mitchell and Vern Collins and membership. Rex Sweeney, chairman, Art Wood. Nick Vanikiotis, and C. W. Wil liams. Larry McConnell was nam ed chaplain. Three Girls Hurt In Car Accident Three teen - age Medford girls were injured Thursday night when the car one was driving struck a Medford Cor poration switch engine at the grade crossing on North Pa cific highway near the Big Y, Medford police reported. Police said the driver, Jean Annette McGuire, 16, of 909 West Fourth st., suffered a bump on the head, an injured nose and a possible leg injury. She was driving her family's car. One passenger, M a r 1 e n e Ann Miller, 17, of 2642 Biddle rd., suffered bruises and abra sions, according to the report. The second passenger, Hazel Jo Creel. 17. of 686 Gilman rd., reportedly suffered a gash on the forehead. They were taken to Rogue Valley hos pital by Medford Ambulance Service. They were released Friday morning. Police identified the engi neer as George Henry Davis, 42, of route 2, box 664, Cen tral Point. The collision oc curred about 10:30 p.m. when the girls' car, southbound ana overtaking another vehicle, struck the engine as it backed eastward across the highway, according to the police report. Two Ways Noted For Reshaping School Districts Current plans to reshape the county school districts would affect a total of ap proximately 21,000 school-age children 1 (4-20 years old) in cluding 14,798 you n g s t e r s now enrolled in county schools, according to the coun ty school superintendent's office. Such reshaping of school districts can be done two ways: (1) Two or more districts may be grouped under the provisions of the state law as directed by the county school reorganization com m i 1 1 e e. This is called reorganization. (2) Two or more adjacent school districts may become one district through action of their school boards and vot ers. This is consolidation. Present Tentative Plans Present tentative plans call for the following districts to combine under the reorgan ization plan: Medford and Phoenix; Ashland, Talent, Pinehurst and the southern section of the present Phoenix school district (Wagner Creek); Evans Valley and Rogue River. Under the school consolida tion provisions, Trail and Shady Cove were consolidated with Eagle Point school dis trict effective July 1, 1958. In that same area a recom mendation would join Butte Falls with Eagle Point. Prospect district would re main as is. Under the pro visions of the school district reorganization measure Pros pect may do this because it is already an administrative unit, in other words, has its own high school. Annexation of the north section of the Howard school district to District 6C has been scheduled for consideration by the county boundary board. Consolidation Proposed Consolidation with Med ford school district is proposed for Lone Pine, Griffin Creek, Jacksonville, Ruch and the remainder of Howard district. A tentative overall plan for the proposed district reorgan ization is due before the state board of education in approxi mately two weeks. Prelimi nary hearings will be held in each of the affected districts in the near future. Further hearings will be held in ap proximately six months after the revised plan is returned by the state. Total reorganiza tion completion is slated for July, 1962. The final plan is due April 7, 1959. However, the county has requested an extension of six months, the maximum time, taking it to Oct. 7, 1959. Election Called . After an approved plan is received from the state, an election is called within 30 days to 60 days. Forty per cent must favor the plan for it to pass and 60 per cent of the district must oppose the plan for it to be defeated. A sec ond election may be called in the districts which reject the plan. If the districts disapprove the plan, a revised plan is sub mitted to the' state board within 3 days of the election. The state board has 30 days to approve it and another elec tion is held. If the last election is held between July 1 and April 30 effective date is July 1 the following year. However, if the last election is held be tween May 1 and June 30, effective date is July ,1 of the next ensuing year. In cases where the plan is rejected, a second election may be called not sooner than one year. A third election can be held on the same plan not sooner than one year from the second election. If the plan is rejected a third time the county's school district reorganization com mittee may figure out a new plan to be voted on. The re organization committee is dis solved when the entire county is reorganized, not later than July 1, 1962. Purpose of Law Purpose of the school dis trict reorganization law is to place the schools under more efficient administrative units, based on the theory that a few large districts can do a better job of educating young sters than many small units. Main philosophy behind the reorganization is the report on "The American High School Today," by James B. Conant, former Harvard uni versity president. He main tains that no high school can educate its pupils well un less it is large enough to graduate at least 100 students at one time. This would mean a total enrollment of some 500. Because of their scarcity, teachers must be used where they will do the most good, he pointed out. This is par ticularly true of hard-to-get-good math, science and language teachers. A good high school offers four years of sciences and languages, he insisted. It also should have special personnel for coun seling. Serious Defect One serious defect of a too small high school, Conant pointed out in his report, is that the "top students cannot be given the special instruc tion they need for their ad vanced abilities. Also, the slow readers and the pupils having difficulties cannot be given the help they need. Perhaps the most hotly con tested of the reorganization proposals is that of joining Rogue River and Evans Val ley. Rogue River school dis trict officials feel their dis trict can provide a better all around education at a lower cost per pupil if the two dis tricts join. However, Evans Valley it self is split on this issue. Some would like to send their chil dren to Grants Pass for their high school education, think ing the larger high school can better prepare them for col lege or for future occupations. Individual Instruction Others feel their children can receive more individual instruction at Rogue River and have a better chance to participate in school activities. Evans Valley now being a non-high district, parents have the option of sending their children to either Grants Pass or Rogue River. This year 23 pupils are attending Grants Pass High school and 33 Rogue River. Rogue River district offi cials estimate their per pupil cost of high school instruction is $620. Combining Evans Val ley students with those of Rogue River would mean little or no additional expense, the officials say. In fact, the long term result may be a per pu pil cost drop of $100 by spreading the per pupil costs over more students. Evans Valley elementary schools can be operated at the same per pupil cost under Rogue River administration as at present. Average costs per pupil for Rogue River for all 12 grades is S400. Per pu pil costs for Rogue River grades 1 through 8 would be considerably less, he said. - "Over the long run the re organization would be a net saving to taxpayers," the school district official said. "At least such reorganization would keep the taxes from going as high as they other wise might have gone." Not Much Difference Curriculum - wise, the re grouping would not make much difference, an official said. It would make class scheduling easier. More sec tions could be set up and each student would be able to take what he should take. The main thing is that ge ometry, chemistry and physics could be offered every year instead of during alternating years, it was explained. The school has a shop program al ready. That would not have to be changed. Some arrange ment may be worked out with Central Point school district authorities so Rogue River students can take vocational agriculture classes at Crater High school, a school district official said. "One thing Evans Valley people should bear in mind is that when a non-high dis trict joins with a county unit such as Josephine county it has no representation on the school board," a district offi cial said. "A reorganized school district would elect its board members by zones." Primary Units "Also, it has been the trend (in county unit districts) when an elementary school has less than 10 pupils they are trans ferred to some other elemen tary school," the school offi cial pointed out. "We believe in primary units where the 1 kids can go to school close to home. We are opposed to see the kids lose their names and become numbers." ' The county school district reorganization committee has recommended that Phoenix be regrouped with Medford except for the south end of the district, Wagner Creek. That area would be regrouped with Talent and Pinehurst and all joined wjth Ashland, ac cording to a further recom mendation. This recommendation, made last Tuesday night during the committee's meeting, is a re versal of a previous tentative recommendation that Talent be combined with Phoenix. Reason for Reversal One reason for the reversal of the previous recommenda tion is that the industrial and business properties at the north end of the Phoenix dis trict are already pressing to join Medford. Some parts of the Phoenix district already are within Medford city limits. Removal of this area from Phoenix district tax rolls would seriously handicap the district, which is classed pri marily as a "bedroom dis trict." Talent school district board has not made a clear-cut state ment on its attitude. It orgin ally contacted the Phoenix board to propose a voluntary consolidation. The Phoenix to Medford re grouping would have several effects. Senior high school students (10th through 12th grades) would be transported to Medford. Whether Junior high school students would remain in Phoenix has not yet been determined. The grade school would remain with Phoenix. Students would get more foreign language and be grouped according to ability. Other Advantages Other advantages, as out lined by school district offi cials, would be more vocation al type courses, larger pro grams of music, athletics and some other activities for the student who can excel. Voca tional agriculture probably would not be offered at this time, it has been pointed out. Regrouping of Phoenix with Talent would give a senior high school of 260 students in Phoenix. The junior high would have 180 to 200 eighth and ninth graders established in the present Talent High school. Phoenix eighth and ninth-graders would be trans ported to Talent. Each town would keep its own grade school. The high school would con tinue to provide four years of mathematics, three years of science, and probably two for eign languages. ' Vocational agriculture, shop, home eco nomics, and business offerings would be expanded with the increased number of students. Metal shop might be offered in the future. Music, athletic and other activities would be expanded. Phoenix has a 61 mill levy. Talent has a 77 mill levy. The two district budgets would be combined under the regroup ing plan. However, each dis trict would retain its existing bonded indebtedness. Com bined millage would be about 67.3 mills, it is estimated. New Junior High Gym The reorganization would also mean a new junior high gym would have to be con structed at Talent in one to three years, and new high school rooms would have to be added in Phoenix. This would mean an added two to four mills on the combined district. The Talent district now receives countv ennali- zation funds, it was noted. Total estimated millage could go ud to about 70 mills in the reorganized district. This would be due to less state and county equalization than is now being received by the two districts operating separately. Medford now has a millare rate of 46.8 mills. After the consolidation of the "fringe" elementarv districts, and if Phoenix should be joined with Medford, the millage would be raised to an estimated 53 mills. A new hieh school in Medford to take care of this expansion would mean anoth er 2 to 4 mills, making the total about 56 mills. Difference in Millage The difference in millage would be 10 to 15 mills more if the Talent-Phoenix proposi tion should develop. Ashland, on the other hand, would be helped with a re grouping with Pinehurst which would give it $600,000 more in assessed valuation. Ashland millage is 43.3 mills and Talent's is 77. Ashland dis trict officials now are in volved in a building program and haven't had much chance to discuss the reorganization proposal. . Eugene Orr Leaves For Washington Eugene Orr, Medford bus inessman and vice chairman of the 11 western states of the American Legion's Nation al Rehabilitation commission, plans to attend, a meeting of the commission in Washing ton, D. C, this week. A member of the executive committee of the commission, he plans to attend a meeting of the committee tomorrow, prior to regular sessions of the commission. Problems arising from cas es handled by the commis sion staff and Legion depart ment and post service offic ers will be reviewed during the 36th annual conference. Winter SALE ends March 14 SHOP NOW lNT What's the rush? Why there are only a few days left to shop Wards Sale Book . . . only a few days left to order most-wanted items at those low, low prices. So hurry; shop today! DINNERWARE. 45-pd. semi-porce!ain....l2.88 FLATWARE. 24-pc. Grape pat. stainless 4.97 SAVE $4 on 11 -pc. hair-cutting outfit..10.95 NORELCO SPEEDSHAVER with Trade-in 14.87 BABY DINER. Feed-play table. Now 22.88 ASPHALT TILE. Striae pattern. 40 for 2.58 BELL & HOWELL 3-D Stereo Camera. 34.75 Prices do not include transportation charges. PHONE SP 3-6641 High Above the Valley work is starting on the ,:J i J-t, New Hillcrest Memorial Park and the Conger-Morris Hillcrest Chapel mncsmm 4J i....;;-' Conger-Morris Hillcrest Chapel A Beautiful Setting The Chapel will be operated ir addition to our downtown facili ties. It will be available to everyone, regardless of the place of interment. If inter ment is to be in H i I I cr e s t Memorial Park it will be possi ble to have one service take the place of the two services now necessary. The chapel will be ready for use in about 90 days. HILLCREST MEMORIAL PARK, with the Conger-Morris chapel, meets today's modern trend by having the funeral service and committal in one location. Gone are the driving hazards of the funeral processions. Gone also is the necessity of having to stand in hot summer sun or the cold winter wind and rain. The specially designed chapel, with a large picture window, faces south into the Siskiyou mountains. Here family and friends can meet in this beau tiful setting, where quietness is added to the beauty of nature. Largest Acreage Chapel For One Service Quiet Non-Residential Area Sound Before-Need Program Mausoleum Hillcrest Memorial Park J L u North Phoenix Road Phoenix Rogue Valley Hospital j ilLLCRESTAMRK L JL J Bi" Driscoll, manager North Phoenix Road 1 m Phone 3-6162 or SP 2-7111 r
